Opposition calls for Japan parliament extension over contentious govt event

Japan's opposition parties on Wednesday ramped up calls for extending the current Diet session, saying the government lied about the existence of backup data for a guest list for a contentious cherry blossom viewing party this year.The recent furor over the publicly funded event shows no signs of easing, despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's denials that he used it for personal gain and invited a former chairman of a company suspected of fraudulent business activity as a recommended guest."This is not going to end. We'd rather ask for an extension to the Diet session beyond the year's end," J…READ FULL ARTICLE